How to Work Around Google’s Ever-Changing Algorithm

How to Work Around Google’s Ever-Changing Algorithm

Ranking your website on the world’s largest search engine can be tricky because Google has been slowly implementing new algorithms to their endless code of artificial intelligence that ranks the billions of websites are that viable. That’s a lot to take in. I know. It hasn’t been a cakewalk for the well-initiated either. Luckily for the rest of us, we aren’t engineering geniuses that work for Google, so we don’t have to understand the entire breadth of the algorithm system. Everyone else just needs to understand how to use the system to work for them. And again, luckily, the system is actually designed to work for anyone who really wants their website to rank.

Google’s system has changed since the days of using some shady ways of getting links and cheating in other ways to fool the system into seeing a website as a quality, authoritative website, when it really isn’t. The artificial intelligence scours the internet in search of these shady practices, and if your website is caught with its hand in the cookie jar, Google will throw that website into oblivion, never to be heard from again. It will not rank ever again, blacklisted, if you will.

The fact that Google has taken the option of cheating to rank is a good thing. It means that all the people who work hard and spend a lot of money to have quality content that people love and interact with can finally rank higher and don’t have to compete with garbage sites that cheat. But, ranking is harder now because of the quality of the sites you’re competing with. Obviously, mega-sites like all the big social media sites, the big search engines, large retail store sites, etc., are going to stay at the top. Unless you can grow a multi-billion-dollar international corporation and spend hundreds of millions on marketing and SEO, you’re probably not going to put yourself into that category. But, just because there are thousands of sites that cannot be touched doesn’t mean that you cannot rank. You just have to use the right keywords, create quality content often, and provide something people want to interact with.

How YouTube works is a great comparison to how Google’s ranking system works. YouTube has a simple system that ranks videos by the amount of views and comments they have. Google uses much more criteria than that, and YouTube probably does too, but that’s the simple version. If you have more site visits than your competitors, then you’ll likely rank higher. If more people interact with your content, whether it be videos, blogs, images, an online store, or downloading a software or something else you provide, it will boost your rankings above your competitors. And that is all you must worry about, your competitors. Your goal is to be the best in your industry, a leader, a market mover.

Google does change their algorithms quite a bit without notice. But, you can get a real in-depth look at exactly what Google’s intentions are when they roll out new updates here. That link will lead you to Google’s explanation on how their search engine works, how they find what you’re looking for, the algorithms they use, and crawling and indexing information. Go through the several pages of information there to get a basic idea.

You can take every bit of information Google has on their ‘algorithm explanation’ site, even if some of it is written for searchers and not website owners. Work the information backwards to understand how people search for the information they want to find. Keywords use to be just one or two words that all the search engines would easily find. Now, people include all kinds of phrases that link to new technology like using Google or other services that will find what they are looking for near them automatically, using top-ranked and authoritative websites to narrow their search query, and to find a specific item (possibly at a certain location, like Amazon).

These search queries can be broken up into:

Navigation Searches – These searches find webpages, broad keywords, and other places and locations related to the words used in the search query. They are usually quite specific, like searching for Facebook. These searches can include terms like ‘customer service,’ ‘location,’ ‘phone number,’ etc. Be sure to include these keywords on your site if it applies.

Info Searches – These are all the weird questions we all put into the Google search bar. Some examples are:

– What are werewolves?

– When was Bill Clinton born?

– What is the Indianapolis Colts’ schedule for 2018-2019?

These searches don’t have to include the words what, when, why, where, or how, but the results can be different depending on the question asked. Now, this is important to know because Google’s AI keeps a record of all these questions. So, it gets ‘smarter’ as time goes on. This gives people an advantage to rank higher for specific questions, key phrases, or keywords used. Make sure to do your research on what questions are being asked that relate to your website so you can include those words. A FAQ section on your website is a great way to include the exact questions and variations of those questions.

Transaction Searches – These searches are for when people want to buy something. They are looking for a specific product or service or item on the internet. You can use this information to research specific keywords you wish to rank for. People can also use add-on words that relate to a specific location like Amazon, Wayfair, or other internet companies that sell products and services. These searches are done locally just as much as they are used generally. So, ensure your local SEO is solid for these types of searches. Also, be sure to use variations, key phrases, and to use them often enough for Google to recognize that you are a player in the ranking game.

Using this information will help you understand Google better and how to better rank your website online. Make sure to read up on all the other blogs and information so you can piece everything together. If you haven’t noticed yet, there is no information in here about how to swindle, cheat, or take the easy route to ranking. Google has been combating the sites who use garbage links, plagiarized content, images, and videos, and other software that makes it look like the page is a super cool place to be for a long time now. Technology has given them the ability to level the playing field across the entire internet. The only way to rank in today’s internet is to play by the rules. Do your research, find out what more you can do, and put forth the effort into giving your base what they want and need.

Another, more uncommon way of getting yourself to rank higher is to affiliate yourself with the big companies. “If you can’t beat ‘em, might as well join ‘em.” Most larger internet companies, including Amazon, has affiliate programs most people can get into. You then have links on and to Amazon that Google highly regards as legitimate. You’d be quite surprised at your website rankings after you become an affiliate for a few different companies.

The other, more common way is to market. If you want people to know your website exists, you’ll have to get on social media, establish a base, interact with your people, and get creative producing new ways for people to interact with you and your website. “If you build it, they might come.” They might, if you try hard enough. Be sure to look for future blogs that will go more in-depth into how to rank your website in today’s SEO world very soon.